One of my father’s favorite sayings (suitably cleaned up and paraphrased for mixed audiences, of course) is, “Don’t mess with old men. They’re too slow to run from you, so they have to stand and fight like a cornered rat; and they’ve been doing that a lot longer than you have.”

its the angle Arthur is holding his blade. In the last panel he’s holding it angled back toward him(I think) in preparation for a slash or a high energy riposte. Just enough to fool the eyes. He was still holding it angled off again in the first panel as well…but if he’s a bada**, which must be a definite he could rock that furball with a short sword. heck that line is gonna get so conglomerated in a second that the short is GOONA OWN AN’ POAWN

In reality having an arrow go so deep into you would be bad news (pain shock, right arm immobilized) and snapping it (so you have the arrowhead move freely in your wound) would be a very bad idea… but I assume Percival is just that badass. 😉

Snapping it off is better than pulling it out, which would cause the arrowhead to remain lodged and move around more freely. Snapping it off like that reduces the possibility of hitting the shaft and damaging more muscle. And considering the time period, a mere arrow isn’t much compared to, say, a sword slashing your legs off.

Chain mail is relatively ineffective against any arrow shot. It’s mainly designed to prevent slashing attacks from swords. It could keep the arrow from going too deeply into the shoulder (hence “tis but a scratch”). Usually, the chain mail is worn over a strong leather jerkin, which when combined with the chainmail could take enough of the force out of the blow not to immobilize the arm, give the “but a scratch”, and still be lodged in something (the jerkin) enough that snapping it off would be totally appropriate.

One thing. Too. Short. Swords.
I am aware this is comic, and it doesn’t have to be correct in many ways. But please. You don’t respect guy with sword which length barely surpasses his forearm.. you.. well.. just don’t ! I’m not saying that short swords are bad, but gimme a brake. Artur doesn’t have to wield two-handed sword.. but at least longsword ? Or something like that ?

And then I see this page, revealing that while Scott is using his own version of the Arthurian mythos, he’s keeping things like established character abilities well intact. For everyone above who was wondering about it, yes, Percival IS that bad***. Strongest out of all of Arthur’s knights (not the most skilled, that’s Lancelot, but definitely strongest).

I think this is the first time a webcomic has made me geek out about old English literature. Hah!

The sword he is carrying isn’t his big go off to war sword. That is more of a carry around all the time sword that he has with him for a walk in the fields around the castle. He doesn’t have armor on either but I think he wears more than a tunic when he plans to fight. Armor and big weapons would be heavy and although I’m sure he could handle them even at his advancing age there is no need to carry them all the time. An army would be seen approaching long before it arrived, and he can handle little bands of raiders without full battle gear.